Freaky Fengdu Ghost City – WTF China?!? (34 Photos)

Fengdu Ghost City is about 110 mile (170 kilometers) downstream from Chongqing Municipality on the north bank of the Yangtze River in the People’s Republic of China. Fengu Ghost City is a tourist attraction featured along a Yangtze cruise. Fengdu Ghost City is a place to learn about Chinese ghost culture, the afterlife, and to see what the Chinese would call a “model of hell.” Fengdu became known as Ghost City in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when two Imperial court officials married and settled on Ming Mountain to practice Taoist teachings. The couples’ surnames combined, Yin and Wang, sounded like “King of Hell” in Chinese. They supposedly became immortals. Thus was born Fengdu City of Ghosts – the hell theme and ghosts culture stuck. This photo is of cool Ghost City architecture and a freaky scene on the roof. Photo #1 by Tennessee Wanderer

During the Tang Dynasty, a temple was erected on Ming Mountain that depicted life in hell. It displayed demonic images and torture devices, reflecting the idea that good people will be treated well in the afterlife and that bad people will be punished by going to hell. Notice that this photo is of the same temple in Fengdu Ghost City as the first picture, but this is a close-up of details on the roof. Google Translator seemed to fail many times, saying the title of this photo is, “Fengdu ghost town – Samsung hundred children in the house roof.” Photo #2 by DDTai

Fengdu Ghost City is lined with bizarre statues which lead up to “hell.” I’d be willing to guess that Google Translate didn’t do this statue justice — “Man eating a ghost.” That’s not what it looks like to me. A better translation might be Ghost Girl? Photo #3 by Gisling

A little research in the Chinese vision of the afterlife showed that ghosts of the dead must undergo three major tests to enter the “netherworld.” These tests have been turned into three of the many attractions in Ghost City. These attraction locations are called – Nothing-To-Be-Done-Bridge, Ghost Torturing Pass, and the Tianzi Son of Heaven Palace. The photographer titled this, “Fengdu ghost town – Bai Wuchang solely on ‘Towards Xiao then good’ There are so warm and cap ‘you come’.” More WTF at Fengdu. Photo #4 by DDTai

Taken during a cruise to Fengdu Ghost City. Up on the hill, in a foggy setting perfect for ghosts, is the massive Devil Hotel. I’m not sure if that is a “pet name,” but officially the giant face is called The Ghost King. It holds a Guinness World Record title as the biggest sculpture ever carved on rock. It stands 138 meters (415 feet) tall and about 217 meters (711 feet) wide, so that The Ghost King can be seen from all around the city. Photo #5 by Britrob

Demon for bad boys at Fengdu Ghost City. The photographer wrote, “In the ghost city of Fengdu, they have devil statues for different vices. This one is what happens to boys who don’t behave themselves.” WTF China? What kind of ancient ghosts and devils do you have to represent what happens after “bad” people die? Photo #6 by Matt Ryall

This is Modoribashi at Fengdu Ghost City. Modoribashi means the Bridge to Hell. An attraction called “Nothing-To-Be-Done-Bridge” connects the real world with the nether world. It’s a testing point for good and evil. According to legend, the bridge has three identical stone arches. The middle arch is where people are tested, but there are many different protocols for crossing the bridge – all depending on age, gender, and marital status. Under the Nothing-To-Be-Done-Bridge are square-shaped pools of water. Virtuous people pass over the bridge without problems, but evil people will supposedly fall into the pools below. When visitors are about to leave, they are encouraged to pass the other two arches called the golden and silver bridges. According to local superstition, this will bring people good fortune. Photo #7 by Gisling

At Fengdu Ghost City – Chinese Realm of the Dead. Another attraction is “The Ghost Torturing Pass.” It is the second test before entry into the nether world and it’s said that it is the place where the dead report to the Yama, the King of Hell, for judgment. In front of The Ghost Torturing Pass structure, there are 18 different scary sculptures of ferocious demons. Notice the heavy coat of dust? Kinda surprised that the person in charge of knocking off the layer of scum isn’t afraid of going to Chinese hell. Photo #8 by Maximovich Nikolay

Fengdu ghost town – the house of stone steps into the Son of Heaven. There are black and white impermanence folklore messenger of good and evil in the Soul. This is a pretty freaky place. Photo #9 by DDTai

Hell and its bureaucrats at Fengdu Ghost City. Why are there bureaucrats in Chinese hell? Because to the Chinese, the social structure in the hell will be exactly like it is in this world. In hell, a spirit would go through an entire bureaucracy to get the final sentence. Pure spirits would be rewarded and the sinful ones would be severely tortured. Different tortures would be given for different sins. This Ghost City amusement park, which was once real temples, display instruments of torture and a wide range of demons to “vividly depict the Chinese people’s imagination of Hell.” Photo #10 by Chiva Congelado

Welcome to hell at Fengdu Ghost City. There are many statues of ghosts and of devils in the temples which describe the after-life where people who disobey ancient Chinese morals are punished in every horrifying ways. Photo #12 by Chiva Congelado

The photographer wrote and Google translated this pic to say, “Fengdu ghost town – although the eighth layer of hell judge the role of criminal law is punishing the evil is not the same place.” Just more WTF kind of bizarro hell trip amusement park is this, China? Photo #13 by DDTai

Again, we are in “hell.” The photographer tagged this photo, according to Google Translate, with: “Fengdu ghost town – West Hell Siege peeling pestle pound iron pan weighing said cut sawing eye make up by cutting the heart and the magic potion kneel.” Indeed the language barrier and translations only add to the WTF freakishness. Photo #14 by DDTai

Google translated this pic to say, “Fengdu ghost town – famous eighteen layers of hell what the hell sub-display approach in handling a wide range What goes around comes around.” Photo #15 by DDTai

Fengdu – The Chinese Realm of the Dead. Is that really the devil’s hotel on hill? Is this a family attraction? Unlike a visit to Disney World, where kids will have happy dreams, taking kids to Fengdu Ghost City – full of demons and ghosts and hell – might cause nightmares? Photo #29 by Maximovich Nikolay

29 thoughts on “Freaky Fengdu Ghost City – WTF China?!? (34 Photos)”

The character 蔓 in the middle (the second one) is pronounced like “man”, which means either “spreading” or “turnip” (depending on the accent). The first character 食 (shi) means both to eat (verb) and food (noun), depending on the context, and the third character 鬼 (gui) means ghost. In this case, the first and second characters form the adjective to describe what the ghost eats.

The Chinese language has a lot of flexibility with characters, where one word can be a noun, an adjective, or a verb (or sometimes just a stand-in), but this could also be a hindrance to machine translations, especially if one of the characters doesn’t get recognized (which I have a feeling is what happened there), so it became “Man eating a ghost.”

The name of the “Ghost Girl” is basically turnip-eating ghost. I’m not sure why there’s a deer sucking on her breast, though, or how turnips fit into this.

i agree that the most bothering are repete “wtf”..seems like the author never seen those kinds of things, maybe need travel more arround the world!
it’s normal for Chinese culture, and mostly the Japanese ghost is originally inspired by Chinese religion and ghost history also.

Funny, how warped, inflexible, totally propagandized, capitalist owned and operated, American minds interpret other cultures against their own, with their blinkered eyes, chained souls, broken dreams, wounded spirits. Oldsmobiles! They will come back! Diesel/Electric hybrids, front wheel drives! Carbon fiber bodies, Ultra light, super fast, astoundingly economical, CV transmissions, Engineered by Americans! Built in Detroit! By GM(America)! They will triumphantly beat out all Asian makes models! Sell for less! Never rust! Never wear out! Believe this? Don’t judge other cultures until you really really understand that even, outside your own conscious awareness, reside many other paradigms, none similar to your Corporate devotion, farmer written, Constitution ruled, notions, indoctrinations, psycho-consumerism, Flag-waving, pride exploiting, WWII victor fueled, nonsense notions, propaganda’s. American Barbie Dolls – fashioned after Eve Braun’s body, in Herr Hitlers’ mind’s eye only! “Perfect Aryan” model! Adopted in the late thirties by the Nazi party! In Germany! Blond, blue-eyed American Dream, ideal was first a creation from Hell by Nazi devils for racial, ethnic cleansing, propaganda purposes. You Google it ! You see! Keep in mind the long history of China, 6,000. years old or more! America, not even 400 years, and dieing fast, look at Detroit City today, compare to only a few decades ago! China, a sustainable culture all these 60 centuries! America, totally foreign oil dependent ‘Tinsel Town’ culture, up fast, ready to die fast! Even the U.S. dollar fades away now. America has no buildings, traditions, more than 300 years old. How can they reach oneness, understanding, realization, with this, ancient world, almost perpetual? Like wind, sun, rivers, tides, even the heated geysers, perpetual, and untouched down through the ages. John Phillipe Sousa’s music, beating hard against the air, bringing American blood to boil, even that does not compare, to an unblinkered gaze into the past, into the future the timelessness these buildings lend humanity. America! Wake Up! There is so life after the U.S. dollar crashes! No, it won’t hurt much, not if you prepare now, in the most earthly ways! A new world, with new dimensions awaits you! You will be set free, These old buildings promise that!

I don’t quite understand where you’re coming from. I mean, as far as I know, it could just be deliberately made to look old, a bit dirty, and in disarray because of the subject matter. I don’t necessarily think that not keeping what could be characterized as a Chinese equivalent of a haunted house attraction in pristine condition is a lack of national pride. If anything, it probably adds to the character.

It also looks like a number of those buildings are Taoist temples. This means that there are monks there, and some of the statues appear to be religious figures, so the cleaning schedule likely has to be set around the rituals and the coming of visitors.

I’m in agreement with some of the comments about the puzzling use of WTF so many times. I’m not quite sure about why this seems like such a WTF-worthy thing, as I don’t really see how this is different from the “Haunted House” attractions we have in the US, albeit on a larger scale. The belief in ghosts and the supernatural has been a part of traditional Chinese culture, and this is just a way of showcasing it (and to make some money in the process).

At the time that I’m writing this, the caption for photos #14 and #15 appear to be switched. #14 has the Chinese that talks about the 18 levels of Hell, and it’s about punishing the evil spirits, and #15 is about the iron city in the western part Hell (from what I understand, at least… this stuff doesn’t exactly make that much sense to me either, to be honest, as I have spent more of my life living in the US than in China at this point).

It’s like a meme on some social sites, I’ve seen it connected with Japan many times when showing something not known well in America, like WTF Japan. That’s the way it reads to me anyhow, same thing only applied to China this time.

I have bookmarked these remarkable photos to explore later. – I must say also that the “WTF” inserts are offensive. Still, I look forward to viewing them – from the Chinese perspective, rather than an uninformed American one.

Let this be understood that at the time these building and temples came into existence, it was the only and most effective way to establish “goodness” in the society and make it defeat the “evil”,
by resorting to teaching through these means that evil is punished. It is same in ancient Indian culture and others with little variations. Don’t the Christians believe in “hell” and “heaven”
and muslims in”janat” and “dosakh’. It takes a mind which sees beyond what the eys see to appreciate such things. eyes can see a physical entity but an idea or a concept can only be seen through the mind’s eyes and we have first to train our minds to see what our eyes cannot see.
we are blind, trying to show every other blind, the way and it will not lead us anywhere, except that we stay where we are now i.e. IGNORANT

嘿嘿，你对鬼城文化的描述还是比较准确。（Wow,your describe about the Ghost City’culture is more accurare.If any body have huge intresting about Fengdu Ghost city , i can give your some help.because my home town is near Fengdu city.）

Yeah, actually did one of the boat cruises down to the Three Gorges a couple of years back. Half of the park was under renovation, but it’s well freaky. It’s set up like a public garden, with winding paths and ornaments. Just that the ornaments are all ghosts or about death and punishment… Probably didn’t help that we were awakened at 5:30 on the boat so that we could disembark at 6, to continue on at 7:30 and not make too much of a delay.